I purchased a pneumatic brake bleeder from Harbor Freight, and used it to bleed my brakes. I haven’t bled my brakes in years, and it’s recommended that you bleed them at least every 2 years. Water builds up in the brake fluid, as it’s a hydrophillic fluid. This process is not difficult, and doesn’t really require any special tools, if you don’t want to purchase a kit like I did. The kit I have just makes bleeding brakes a single person job.
The process isn’t that difficult. All you do is suck the fluid out of the master cylinder, replace it with fresh fluid, jack up the vehicle, remove the wheel, locate the bleeder screw, and bleed the brakes. If you’re not going to use a kit, you just have someone sit in the driver’s seat, pump the brakes a few times, after which you open the screw for a moment, let the fluid flow out, then close it. If you’re going to use the kit, you just connect your air compressor to the bleeder mechanism, and open the air inlet valve, then open the bleeder screw. I’d recommend a kit like that one, as it comes with an auto filling bottle, which makes watching the master cylinder reservoir level easy. You don’t ever want the master cylinder to run dry, otherwise you’ll have to bleed the master.
I ran into a snag while bleeding my brakes. I did not replace my brakes personally the last time I needed rear brakes. I took my truck to a shop, and had them replace the brakes. They did an ok job, however, whoever worked on the vehicle overtorqued the bleeder screw, and the banjo bolt. When I loosened the bleeder screw, fluid began pouring out, and tightening the screw back did not fix the issue. The bleeder screw also was clogged with debris, which would have necessitated replacing it had the threads not been destroyed by overtorquing them. I had to ultimately replace the caliper with a new one. Below are the pictures of the job, and the new caliper.
Old fluid in the master cylinder. It should not look black like that.
Sucking the fluid out of the reservoir
The fluid as seen through the tube. It should be mostly clear.
Refill bottle in place. Note how the fluid is not nearly as dark.
How the refill bottle attaches to the master cylinder reservoir.
The bleeder screw with the rubber cap on. Sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not. It’s better if they’re still on the screw, as it prevents dirt from getting inside the screw.
Hose attachment attached to the screw. Just turn inlet valve on the bleeder mechanism on, and open the screw, and fluid will start flowing.
New brake caliper. This one came with new hardware, and just like with the TW, I greased the sides and the back of the pad, the sliding surfaces, and the slide pins.
As it always turns out, a simple job turns into a complex, 4 hour adventure of running to auto parts stores. I’d recommend bringing the part with you if you can, as my truck had two different options for calipers, and I picked up the wrong part initially, necessitating me returning and wasting even more time.